Susan Granger’s review of “Hamilton” (Richard Rodgers Theater, Sept. 2015)
Even seasoned New York theater pundits are amazed that this vivacious, innovative musical about the nation’s first Treasury secretary just bested “Aladdin,” “The Book of Mormon,” and “Wicked” to become the second-highest-grossing show on Broadway, following Disney’s “The Lion King.”
Utilizing a racially/ethnically diverse cast singing exhilarating R&B, jazz, pop and hip-hop music, writer/composer/performer Lin-Manuel Miranda tells the story of a poor immigrant kid who was born in 1755 and came from a broken home on the tiny island of Nevis in the West Indies.
Cocky, energetic and verbally blessed, Alexander Hamilton (Javier Munoz) was known as George Washington’s (Christopher Jackson) favorite strategist – until he was killed in a duel by his perennial frenemy, manipulative Aaron Burr (Leslie Odom, Jr.).
Based on Ron Chernow’s exhaustive and insightful biography (2004), it not only revels in Hamilton’s relentless ambition but also his capacity for romantic entanglements. Even after marrying Eliza Schuyler (Phillipa Soo), he maintains a relationship with her sister Angelica (Renee Elise Goldsberry), who was his intellectual soulmate, and indulges in an adulterous affair with Maria Reynolds (Jasmine Cephas Jones) that became the nation’s first sex scandal.
Most of the humor derives from arrogant King George III (Jonathan Groff), who is clueless about why the rebellious colonists demanded their independence.
And Hamilton’s duet with France’s Marquis de Lafayette (Daveed Diggs) delivers a timely patriotic tweak, astutely observing: “Immigrants – we get the job done.”
Lin-Manuel Miranda reunited with his 2008 Tony-winning “In the Heights” collaborators director Thomas Kail, choreographer Andy Blankenbuehler, and music director/orchestrator Alex Lacamoire, along with set designer David Korins, costume designer Paul Tazewell and lighting designer Howell Binkley.
I suspect “Hamilton” will equal or outrank “1776,” which first introduced members of the Continental Congress in song; it played 1,222 performances and was adapted into a 1972 movie musical.
A cultural phenomenon and the best musical on Broadway: “Hamilton” is absolutely fantastic!